How much waste is produced then your clothes are manufactured? And it there anything that can be done to reduce that?
The Pentland Centre’s Dr Madiha Ahmad joins us to talk about her PhD research at Heriot-Watt University, in Edinburgh, which involved looking at sew-free techniques that dramatically reduce fabric wastage.
Madiha tells us about textiles in her Pakistan homeland, where it is an $18bn industry, and we go in-depth on how fibres become yarn becomes fabric, spanning global supply chains and representing a more complicated process than you might imagine.
We learn about the lifecycle of fibres as they become fabrics and garments; about issues of over-consumption, fast fashion, and landfill, but also how waste is created when a garment is produced; and about the many technicalities of weaving.
Madiha reveals the many layers of sustainability that need to be considered, and how knowledge and practice in this area can be part of a company’s international competitiveness.
We talk about fabric waste, and how this is both a natural part of the standard manufacturing process but also something that could be tackled with a different weaving method – one that will have you checking how many seams you have on your clothing. We even take the concepts of sew-free and see how similar ideas can be applied in aerospace.
Plus, Jan tells us about being raised to be a farmer’s wife; Paul objects to Jan’s suggestion he doesn’t think about how and where his clothes are made as he reveals he is made in Egypt on this particular day; and the horrible idea of square scones rears its ugly head.
Here is a handy outline of how textiles are manufactured: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textile_manufacturing
If you want to understand more about weaving, see here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weaving
And if you want to listen to our previous episode on the Uzbek cotton industry, this is the place: https://pod.fo/e/3cf0a4
Transforming Tomorrow
Sustainability is key for any business that wants to build a lasting legacy. From carbon footprints to biodiversity to modern slavery, seabeds to factory floors, everything matters.
On Transforming Tomorrow, we make the complex understandable, the theory practical, as we guide you through the ever-changing and often exciting world of sustainability in business.
Speaking to internationally renowned experts and business leaders, we uncover how to mainstream environmental, social and economic sustainability into purposeful business strategy and performance.
Whether you are leading transition in your business, want to build a corporation with a green heart or change your individual actions, or just want to know more about how space weather might affect your operations, Transforming Tomorrow is the show for you.
Hosts Jan and Paul bring insight, perspective, and not a little amount of disagreement, to all the subjects, helping you find the message among the madness.
Join us every Monday to uncover new insights and become a little more inspired that you can make a difference.
You can find transcripts for most episodes at: https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/pentland/resources-for-education-and-practice/transforming-tomorrow-podcast/transcripts/
Send your questions on any of the issues we discuss in Transforming Tomorrow to [email protected] or fill in our feedback form here: https://forms.office.com/e/7Bw4rDiRDt
Find out more about the Pentland Centre and its work here: https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/pentland/
Meet the Hosts
Professor Jan Bebbington is the Director of the Pentland Centre for Sustainability in Business at Lancaster University. Jan is an expert on accounting, benchmarking (to her co-host’s annoyance), and how business and sustainability intersect.
Jan loves nature and wants to protect it – and hopes she can change the world (ideally for the better). She is also motivated to address inequality wherever it is found and especially to eliminate forced, bonded or child labour. Transforming Tomorrow is one small step on that quest.
Paul Turner is a former sports journalist who now works promoting the research activities in Lancaster University Management School – a poacher turned gamekeeper as his former colleagues would have it.
Paul has always been interested in nature and the natural environment – it comes from growing up in Cumbria – and has been a vocal proponent of the work of the Pentland Centre since joining Lancaster University. He does not like rankings and benchmarking, and is not afraid to say so.